The Samuel and Esther Chester
Immunology Center at The
Miriam Hospital
Clinical Research Program
The clinical research program at the Immunology Center has grown
because of the outstanding work of faculty in infectious diseases, general
internal medicine, (Michael Stein, MD; Peter Friedmann, MD; and Jennifer Clark, MD), pediatrics (David Pugatch, MD)
and behavioral medicine (Raymond Niaura, PhD, and Kate Morrow, PhD).
Program initiatives:
- The Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research is under
the leadership of Charles C.J. Carpenter, MD. It is funded by an NIH
center grant, awarded in 1998 in recognition of excellence
in HIV research.
- The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment funded a major
three-year grant to Josiah Rich, MD, to provide primary care and outreach to
active injection drug users. The program's focus is HIV/STD
diagnosis and prevention, Hepatitis B and C testing, Hepatitis B
vaccination and linkage to substance abuse treatment. Funding through
the Open Society Foundation and the American Federation for AIDS
Research allows the prescription of clean needles to prevent further
spread of HIV and Hepatitis.
- Susan Cu-Uvin, MD,
and her team have
identified factors that influence genital
tract HIV shedding. This has important implications for both sexual
transmission and vertical transmission of HIV from mother to child. The effective suppression of HIV
viral load in the plasma has resulted in suppression of HIV RNA
expression in the genital tract. Resistant virus may shed in the genital tract
and be transmitted from mother to child or to a sexual
partner.
- Lifespan was awarded an NIH grant enabling Karen Tashima, MD, and Timothy
Flanigan, MD, to join the AIDS Clinical
Trials Group which evaluates HIV treatments. This network has defined
effective long term treatments for HIV over the past 10 years and
fostered investigations into the complex interplay between immunologic
suppression, viral replication and treatment.
- Behavioral medicine and infectious diseases joined
to develop an intervention to decrease HIV/STD risk behaviors among
young men leaving prison. As one of four sites funded by the
Centers for Disease Control, the center works closely with
correctional and non-correctional professionals to develop and
eventually evaluate an intervention that may not only decrease HIV
risk behaviors, but also decrease substance abuse and recidivism.
Back
|
